Thursday, December 04, 2008

Why does the NFL hate James Harrison?

The National Football League announced today that Dwight Freeney, defensive end with the Indianapolis Colts, was named the defensive player of the month for November. Here is the league's statement as released to the media:

"Freeney set the tone for the Colts defense by registering five sacks and two forced fumbles as the club posted a perfect 5-0 record in November. Freeney recorded a sack in three of five November games, including multiple-sack games in Week 10 (11/9) at Pittsburgh and in Week 11 (11/16) against Houston. In Week 13 against Cleveland (11/30), Freeney played a pivotal role in the Colts capturing the lead. Trailing 6-3 with 9:55 remaining in the game, Freeney sacked quarterback DEREK ANDERSON and stripped the ball away, which was then recovered by defensive end ROBERT MATHIS, who raced 37 yards for the Colts’ only touchdown and a 10-6 lead for the eventual game-winning score. Freeney ranks first in franchise history with 68.0 career sacks."

With that being said, here is a comparison of Mr. Freeney's November with that of James Harrison:

Solo Tackles

Assists

Sacks

Forced Fumbles

James Harrison

27

13

5.5

3

Dwight Freeney

7

2

5

1

Adding insult to injury, James Harrison has yet to be selected as player of the month this season.

There has been no defensive player this season more impactful than Mr. Harrison ~ unless someone wants to argue that Troy Polamalu is deserving of some consideration on that point ~ and we are amazed that he has yet to receive the credit he has earned.